Sutherland releases op-ed on medical marijuana ballot initiative process
SALT LAKE CITY — Today Sutherland President Rick Larsen released the following op-ed first published in Utah Policy discussing the debate over The Utah Medical Cannabis Act:
"The medical marijuana ballot initiative has come to resemble a NASCAR pileup. It’s time to take a deep breath and think carefully about where we go next. Let’s wave a yellow flag and signal a slowdown based on potential dangers ahead.
After previous legislative attempts to expand legal access to marijuana, the Utah Patients Coalition decided the legislative approach was taking too long for people suffering from chronic pain. As constitutionally allowed, they decided to take the issue to the people by gathering signatures to get the matter on the ballot.
So far, everyone seemed to be staying in their lanes.
Some concerned groups – Sutherland Institute among them – had questions as to whether people had actually read the petition, or were responding to brief explanations and signing in favor of a very complicated issue (an inherent risk of the ballot initiative process). For others in Utah, red flags in this initiative include overly broad language that could lead to unintended and even perilous consequences. This is where the nudging began. Claims and counterclaims are crashing; visibility has declined amid the smoke; and all parties are accusing someone of not following the rules.
Ever since – like stock cars helplessly zigzagging at high speed into a tangle of other out-of-control vehicles – momentum has seemingly committed all parties to a full-throttle, pedal-to-the-metal path, each hoping their car will emerge on the other side, still capable of finishing the race.
But the reality is, we are not on a track nor in a race, and there is no predetermined outcome. This is a debate – a decision to be made – over important policy that will impact Utah for generations to come. There is so much at stake.
Patients are suffering. Doctors are concerned. Compliance with federal law is an issue. Lessons from other communities are cautionary. Community standards are at stake. And last but certainly not least, the integrity of the ballot initiative process, and our trust in one another, are all on the line..."
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Study after study has shown that arts education nurtures students’ creativity and problem-solving skills, competencies that are critical for success in a 21st Century world, but how does dance and movement heal and transform at-risk youth?
New York’s Battery Dance launched its Dancing to Connect programs in 2006. Since that time, the program has spread to 6 continents, 50 countries, 100 cities, and 1,000 schools. A powerful new documentary by Wilderness Films follows six dancers from the dance company from India to Eastern Europe to the Korean Peninsula to the Middle East as they support vulnerable youth helping them to express themselves through movement. The film focuses on the struggles, frustrations, resilience and ultimate transformation of the students and their dance teachers.
Producer Cornelia Ravenal says that as a trauma survivor she understood the power of art to “heal and transform.” Ravenal along with husband partner Mikael Södersten collaborated with Battery Dance Founder Jonathan Hollander to create the documentary because she believed this was a story that had to be told. As global populations continue to grow, migration and increasing social and cultural diversity are reshaping classrooms worldwide. Solutions for integrating and uniting peoples from diverse cultural backgrounds are now sought by schools and communities all over the globe. Hollander believes that “no divide has been too great for the art of dance, the primacy of movement, the common humanity, and expression, to span.”
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Battery Dance performs on the world’s stages, teaches, presents, and advocates for the field of dance. The Company is dedicated to the pursuit of artistic excellence and the availability of the Arts to everyone. Battery Dance has produced over 100 original dance works choreographed by its founder and artistic director Jonathan Hollander, in collaboration with a diverse array of composers and designers, and its cast of outstanding dancers.
CMRubinWorld launched in 2010 to explore what kind of education would prepare students to succeed in a rapidly changing globalized world. Its award-winning series, The Global Search for Education, is a celebrated trailblazer in the renaissance of the 21st century, and occupies a special place in the pulse of key issues facing every nation and the collective future of all children. It connects today’s top thought leaders with a diverse global audience of parents, students and educators. Its highly readable platform allows for discourse concerning our highest ideals and the sustainable solutions we must engineer to achieve them. C. M. Rubin has produced over 700 interviews and articles discussing an expansive array of topics under a singular vision: when it comes to the world of children, there is always more work to be done.
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The team at BusinessStudent.com compiled The Best Blockchain Careers for the Future:
The team at BusinessStudent.com compiled The Best Blockchain Careers for the Future:
